The 10 Craziest Arrest Stories of Players in This Draft Class
College football is the cash cow of most university athletic programs. The institution has quite a few different types of people and personalities involved.
The biggest part of what makes a college football team successful is recruiting. And the most scrutinized part of college recruitment is sussing out which student athletes have troubled pasts and character issues.
A few months ago, CBS News and Sports Illustrated completed a six-month investigation about the criminal records of college football players.
"A background check was run on every college football player on every team in SI’s preseason Top 25. Of the 2,837 players examined, shockingly, 204 had criminal records—or one in every 14 players on a Top-25 team.
The exhaustive investigation highlighted not only the amount of crime being committed across the country by college football players but how blatantly schools are ignoring it or manipulating the system to get around it.
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The study was very compelling, but it covered all college football players. This list will focus on the players that are in this year's draft who have had run-ins with the law.
Some of these players are big-name talents expected to go high in the draft. And though not all of these arrests are jaw-dropping offenses, the circumstances surrounding them make them interesting.
10. Michael Floyd: Wide Receiver (Notre Dame)
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Though Floyd isn't in the initial 2011 draft later this month, there is word he might end up in the July supplemental draft.
Floyd is a superior talent who would have been considered a top three receiver in the April draft. But he has been arrested a few times on alcohol-related offenses.
According to Huffington Post, this was Floyd's third run-in with the law over alcohol since 2009. That's right, third arrest.
He is what Charlie Murphy called Rick James on the Chappelle show, "a habitual line stepper." And unfortunately a habitual DUI offender. What's more surprising? He will most likely be playing football this summer without any penalties. Either in the pros or for Notre Dame.
Let's hope if he has a drinking problem, he gets help with it.
9. Mitch Mustain: Quarterback (USC)
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Mustain is from the school that can arguably right now call itself "Quarterback U" (Mark Sanchez, Carson Palmer, Matt Lienart, Matt Cassel and current QB, Matt Barkley are either in the pros or projected to be).
But Mustain has two things going against him and his fading draft aspirations:
A) He didn't play much at USC, (sitting behind Sanchez and then Barkley).
B) He hasn't been the best off-field citizen.
Earlier this year, Mustain was arrested on a felony narcotics charge after allegedly trying to sell prescription drugs to an undercover officer.
Yikes.
8. Mark Barron: Safety (Alabama)
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Barron is another one of those guys who people were shocked to hear mentioned on the legal blotter.
According to AL.com:
"Police were called to the scene of a single-car accident at 5 a.m. at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Michigan Avenue in Mobile. That's where an officer found an abandoned Chrysler 300, which belonged to Barron, Levy said.
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Barron, one of Alabama's top returning players, was charged with second degree hindering prosecution, according to the Mobile Police Department. See, police knew Barron wasn't the one driving the car, but they needed him to tell them who was. And he decided not to.
According to other reports:
"The arresting officer says he begged Barron to tell the truth, showed him the law about hindering prosecution and explained he would have to arrest him if Barron continued to cover for his cousin. Police say they even got Barron's mother and grandmother to try and convince him. But Barron refused to admit his cousin was driving the car.
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I guess even under the threat of prosecution, Barron is no snitch. Even if it means ruining his rep and possibly ending his college career.
If more details come out and Barron is forced to miss some time, don't be surprised if he decides to enter the supplemental draft this summer.
7. Ryan Mallett: Quarterback (Arkansas)
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Mallett has come under fire lately for possibly missing meetings with pro teams on account of allegedly being hung over from partying too hard.
Not sure what is more shocking public intoxication arrests or possibly missing meetings due to being liquored up and getting your party on.
Whether or not that is true, he was definitely arrested for public intoxication in March of 2009. Not exactly what teams are looking for in a leader and a quarterback.
6. Phil Taylor: Defense Tackle (Baylor)
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By all accounts, Taylor was a great citizen when he was a Baylor, and most consider him a possible high first round pick.
It's only some deep digging that you would find out that Taylor used to play at Penn State where he was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.
Sheesh. All this because of a fight.
I would've moved to the the town with the Dr. Pepper Museum to get away from that drama, too.
5. Ramon Buchanan: Linebacker (Miami)
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This story is shocking not because of the arrest but the result and the after affects. Hurricane linebacker Ramon Buchanan was arrested for three misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, trespassing and resisting a police officer.
He was also hit with a felony charge of resisting a police officer with violence.
All that is really bad and most folks would be scared out of their minds if they were hit with these charges. But not Buchanan.
He allegedly told a Miami police officer, “I’m a UM football player and I don’t give a [expletive] what you do. I’ll get out of it. [Expletive] the police.’’
That's a lot of talk, right? You'd think he was either foolish or a gangster rapper after that speech, right?
Well, two weeks after he was suspended indefinitely by the team, Buchanan was reinstated.
Guess he was right. About the getting out of it, not the bad things about the peace officers.
Remains to see if he beats the charges.
If not, he'll be terrorizing some other city once he gets drafted over the summer.
4. Adrian Clayborn: Defensive End (Iowa)
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Clayborn's situation was strange for a few reasons.
First, he was charged with assault in 2009 for beating up a cab driver. Then, it came out that the cab driver had used a racial slur towards him. Then it came out that a woman was arrested for stalking him and ordered to not come near him for five years.
He eventually pled guilty in March 2010 to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct. Not sure what happened to the woman.
Clayborn is definitely going to keep it interesting for whatever team drafts him.
3. Jonathan Baldwin: Wide Receiver (Pitt)
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Jonathan Baldwin learned a tough lesson about keeping your hands to yourself.
In 2009, while riding in an on campus bus, Baldwin decided to smack a coed on the butt. Stupid, offensive and definitely worth some reprimand, right?
Well, Baldwin was arrested and charged with misdemeanor indecent assault, summary harassment and summary disorderly conduct.
If any of those charges stuck, he could kiss a high draft pick goodbye. And considering he is a major talent that could have ended up being millions of dollars.
Fortunately, earlier this year, a judge cleared him of all charges. I bet there is no butt slapping in Baldwin's near future.
2. Cam Newton: Quarterback (Auburn)
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Cam Newton's arrest wasn't so much crazy as it was stupid.
Newton was charged with felony counts of burglary, larceny and obstruction of justice while he was attending Florida after allegedly stealing a laptop from a fellow Gators student and throwing it out his dormitory window when the cops came knocking.
No, the craziest part of his story is how he went from junior college star with a shady past, to the Heisman trophy-winning, national championship ring-wearing, first-round pick in 365 days.
That is the crazy part.
1. Jabaal Sheard: Defensive End (Pittsburgh)
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This young man is No. 1 because he shows tenacity on the field and unfortunately off it, as well.
Though considered a second-round pick, several teams will look into this incident in his past.
According to reports, Sheard was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest after allegedly throwing a man through a plate glass door of an art gallery.
(Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing, what was he doing in an art gallery?)
The SI piece points out that even after an officer arrived on the scene, Sheard continued to punch the victim in the face as he lay on his back, bleeding.
It was also stated that it took many officers with a lot of pepper spray to calm Sheard down.
If you draft this mountain of a man, you know what you are getting: a relentless rusher, both on the field and in art galleries.
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